Our Thanksgiving cartoon has become a tradition. Here are the cartoons from years past:

2008 - Mooing Turkeys
2007 - Ulterior Motive
2006 - The Truth About Turducken
2005 - Sesame Street Surprise

Mary and the boys got crafty yesterday and made some delicious Thanksgiving desserts.

Officially called Oreo Turkeys the delectable little treats are made with Double Stuffed Oreo Cookies, Candy Corn, Whoppers, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, some icing, a little love and a lot of patience.

Did you know a bunch of turkeys are called a rafter? So, here we have a rafter of Oreo Turkeys.

Elsewhere on the internet, a fellow Oklahoman posted a beautiful picture of the moon he had taken with a telescope. I don't currently have my telescope hooked up but i do have a new digital camera and 200mm telephoto lens and thought that I might be able to reproduce similar results.

So, the boys and I headed outside tonight just before bedtime and with a tripod and timer set so that there wouldn't be any camera shake we got the above image.

Taken with Canon EOS Rebel T1i (500D), Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0 L IS USM Lens, 1/200 sec, F4.0, ISO 100, exposure bias -2/1, 200.00mm, no flash, auto exposure, spot metering.

Today was the annual raking of the leaves and, this time, I had two "helpers." Rake two piles, leaf-vacuum one, rake two piles, vacuum one.... Once I realized a photographic opportunity was at hand, I ran and got the camera. The result was one of my favorite pictures I've ever taken, Drew in flight and Will close behind. For the curious, the exif data reports: Canon EOS Rebel T1i (500D), Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens, 1/250 sec, F8.0, ISO 800, 18.00mm, no flash, auto exposure.

Will and Drew sitting in the leaves.

I couldn't decide which of these two photos I liked best, so I posted both.

Previously, I posted about Mary's awesome soccer ball cupcakes.

This year, Mary added basketball and baseball cupcakes to the mix for Drew's birthday party today.

Basketball cupcake pattern.

Baseball cupcake pattern.

The sports cupcakes were a huge hit with all the kids! Awesome job Mama!!!

Drew was at school when our new piano was delivered so Will had first crack at breaking it in. Despite being the wild one of the two, our full-of-energy three year-old Will surprised us all by sitting down at the piano and gently stroking the keys in the most amazing manner.

We don't know if its from watching other people play or what, but it's totally out of character for the little guy. We weren't thinking about starting Will out with lessons for another year or so, but if his demeanor in front of the ivory continues, we just might have to get him started sooner.

Today we welcomed a new addition to our family, a brand new Steinway & Sons Essex Empire Studio upright piano in Sapele Mahogany, model number EUP-123FL.

We had the perfect spot just calling out for an upright piano to make its home.

The Sepele Mahogany finish is absolutely beautiful and goes really well with the rest of our furniture.

Neither Mary nor I ever learned to play, but we really wanted to get a piano for the boys to learn to play.

We first started looking for a piano two years ago and after a lot of research and many trips to various piano stores we finally decided on this one as having the most bang for the buck, quality and beauty in both looks and sound.

EUP-123 internals.

The mechanics are fascinating to watch.

It's as beautiful inside as it is out! We can't wait to learn how to play it. Maybe even Daddy will take some lessons.

Mary took it upon herself to try and herd cats today and...amazingly enough...got an awesome picture of the three boys, all of them looking at the camera!

While looking for some Thanksgiving pictures, Steve Chavez came upon DanzFamily.com and was inspired by the American Flag which waves proudly at the top of the page. After exchanging emails and directing him to the original iStockPhoto.com photo, he created the image above. Well done Steve!